Top 5 Underappreciated, Underrated Characters in SciFi!

Not too long ago, we gave you the top five most underappreciated fantasy characters some long overdue credit. Now it's time to sing the praises of the unsung heroes of science fiction! From conflicted betrayers to dinosaur hunters to media stars, these characters deserve more recognition for their awesome legacies. And watch out, there are some SPOILERS!

5. Felix Gaeta of Battlestar Galactica

Gaeta has one of the best character arcs ever to grace television, let alone science fiction. He begins as an idealistic, devoted servant to Commander Adama, and ends as one of Adama's deadliest adversaries. The journey to his mutiny is driven entirely by Gaeta trying to do the right thing in hard situations. The relationship between Gaeta and Gaius Baltar is also genius: sometimes tragic, sometimes hilarious, often both at the same time.

4. Miranda Tate/Talia al Ghul of The Dark Knight Rises

Miranda Tate is very convincingly charming and altruistic, making the revelation that she was simply an alter-ego for Talia al Ghul one of the best about-faces in the Dark Knight trilogy. It also gave Batman a serious scare. Here he was entrusting the ultimate weapon to his arch-nemesis' daughter. Holy Poor Decisions, Batman! Talia al Ghul doesn't stick around for long after her identity is revealed, but we wish we could have seen more from this awesome villain: the only person strong enough to escape the Lazarus Pit, let alone steal the hearts of both Batman and Bane.

3. Robert Muldoon of Jurassic Park

Jurassic Park is filled with so many memorable main characters that great side characters like Muldoon—the Australian raptor handler—are sometimes overlooked. No longer! Muldoon knows the Park is doomed, as he and the raptors have been facing off for months before the fateful "tour." I mean, literally facing off: just staring at each other and becoming insane with rage and respect on both ends. When the raptors escape, Muldoon is tricked into following a decoy raptor while the alpha stalks him to his left. Realizing he's been outsmarted, he actually congratulates the raptor like the gentleman he is, famously saying "clever girl." Dennis Nedry, take some notes: that's how you make an exit.

2. Chewbacca of the Star Wars Trilogy

Chewbacca is not underappreciated by Star Wars fans, as any convention-goer can tell you. But he is underappreciated by his own colleagues, at least in A New Hope. After the Death Star is destroyed, Leia awards Luke and Han with medals in a big, official ceremony, but Chewie's standing up there like a chump without one! Chewbacca gets more respect in later films, and George Lucas has tried repeatedly to remedy this ceremonial indignity, but we can't un-see the poor guy getting shafted in front of the entire Rebel Army! I guess it's the one case where the Wookiee doesn't get to win.